“Detroit’s bye week couldn’t have come at a better time, as the Lions have lost three of their past four games,” ESPN.com staffers wrote. “They have a tough matchup against the Steelers when they return to action, but then get to take on the Aaron Rodgers-less Packers and the quarterback-deficient Browns.”

Teams’ upcoming schedules shouldn’t factor into power rankings, but yeah, that all sounds about right.

“That was a bad loss to the Saints,” Schwab correctly noted. “They’re your typical NFL team in 2017: After four weeks people (rightfully) said they were a few inches against the Falcons from being 4-0. Now they’re 3-3 and look to be backsliding badly going into their bye week with a game against the Steelers on deck.”

“It’s not the lack of skill, but the injury troubles that concern me with the Lions,” Manzullo wrote. “Detroit still has too much to prove right now.”

What is it the kids say? ‘Spot the lie’?

Whether they’re exactly the 15th-best team in the NFL right now or not doesn’t really matter. The common theme with all of these takes is that Detroit is fundamentally a better, more talented team than we’re seeing right now—and injuries are a big part of the reason why.